The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-09-03
MIN N EHAHA.
The Southern Bellies Kept in the Back ground While the Traveller Man
 Speaks of the Falls.
[ fEditoriat ( correspondence. l
TEUFtOItHt VVTTt8FOHIPHf''I
 Hotel Lafayette, ! LAKE MINNEToNKA, MIN, :
 August, 1887. '

LAKE MlNNEToNkA, MlNN.,
 August, 1887.
 To mention the names of all the persons who have contributed to our enjoyment would not be an impossi- bility, but the compilation when com pleted would bear the appearance of a city directory of St. Paul and Minnc- apolis. Prosperous and contented, these people remind me of characters ill nov els, who having passed those struggles without which the better elements of human nature receives no cultivation, have come out prepared to enjoy life.
 We visited the falls of Mipnehaha. These falls are landmark. The old est inhabitants cannot remember when they were constructed, though found one man who declared that they had lost much of their former greatness. "Why, sir" said he, ''you ought to have seen these falls before the busi- ness depression of 1857. Then they seemed to me to be in their glory. They were much higher and broader than they are now. Some of our leading business men think that if our crops turn out well for several suc- cessive seasons the falls will regain much of their lost grandeur"
 cannot with certainty determine the style of architecture followed in the construction of this comfortable and contented cataract No wood work is employed, and l noticed that even the use of brick was discarded. Lake Minnetonka supplies the water, without which the falls would be al- most a complete failure. I know of communities where whisky instead of water causes great many falls, but of this painful subject do Lot care to speak.
 Minnehaha Falls do not suspend their operations at night, and though several persons of Puritanical instincts have attempted to shut them down on Sunday, as yet the county court has refused to hear their petition. It is held by the Minnesota Historical Society that the falls were built by the Indians and that the first white man who discovered them was pen sive young gentleman named Longfel- low, who, having learned the poets trade, found it necessary to stroll about the neighborhood, turning over logs and peeping into crevices, to find some- thing with which to satiate the maw of his hungry muse. It was here that he made the acquaintance of the cor- respondent of a New York comic paper-Sam, of Lite; and it was also here that, during a flood, he wrote "Highwater."
 No notice is taken of the waste water. It might, with but little trouble, be dipped up in buckets, car ried above and made to perform double duty. After awhile, when these people have learned the art of irrigation, the falls will doubtless be materially improved. During the great drouth of 1881, Captain Moffat, of the St. Paul Globe, hauled water in barrels and kept the falls running. When complimented for his disinter- ested enterprise, the captain modestly replied that he deserved no credit that the people in Virginia, where he once lived, thought nothing of reliev- ing the distress of waterfall or prop ping up a natural bridge that ap- peared to be on its last legs.
 I must acknowledge my indebted ness to Miss Carita More, of Nash vile, who assisted me in crossing the branch and gaining position from which could, without exerting my self, catch frequent glimpses of the falls. trembled perceptibly when she told me to entrust myself to her